Former IRA Prisoner to be Deported after 25 Years in U.S.

Former IRA prisoner Pol Brennan is set to be deported May 18. His only hope of staying in the US is if Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano grants him a special deportation waiver due to the hardship his deportation would cause his American wife of 20 years.

Brennan joined the IRA to fight British rule in Northern Ireland and was convicted of possessing explosives in 1976. He was one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from Belfast’s Maze prison in 1983, and he entered the US a few months later under a false name. He was caught by U.S. authorities in Berkeley in January 1993. Brennan fought an extradition battle with England, during which time he was jailed for several years and released on bail twice. The extradition requests were eventually dropped in 2000 as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Between 2000 and 2006, Brennan was granted a succession of work permits. He lived in San Francisco with his family and worked as a carpenter and a certified building inspector. In January 2008, while visiting friends in Texas, he was detained at an immigration checkpoint because his work permit had expired. He had applied to renew his permit, but hadn't received a new permit yet. Brennan has been in U.S. custody ever since.